Representing Trondhjems Skøiteklub,[1] Rolf Falk-Larssen made his international debut at the European Allround Championships of 1982 and he was in the lead after three distances.

With just one lap left to go in that 10,000 m, it seemed that Falk-Larssen would be crowned as the new European Champion, but Gustafson skated an extraordinary last lap, setting a new world record of 14:23.59, and beating Falk-Larssen (who skated a great 14:30.34– a new Norwegian record) by 0.021 points (equivalent to just 0.42 seconds of difference on the 10,000 m).

Segments of the crowd thought Falk-Larssen did not give his utmost during the final 10,000 m race, and he was booed during many of the laps.

This was the only time in history that the World Champion had a worse samalog score than the number two, and it eventually resulted in the abolishment of the three-distance-wins rule in favour of ranking by samalog points exclusively (the Lex Gustafson, from 1987 onwards).

[better source needed] For his accomplishments in 1983, Falk-Larssen received the Oscar Mathisen Award.